Mechanism for joining webs of material



June 23, 1964 H. A. STONE 3,138,341

MQCHANISM FOR JOINING WEBS OF MATERIAL Filed June 12, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN van Ton Arrow er;

June 23, 1964 H. A. STONE 3,138,341

MECHANISM FOR JOINING WEBS 0F MATERIAL Filed June 12, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i 20 i: 24 7 W 70 /a United States Patent MECHANISM FOR JOINING WEBS OF MATERIAL Horace Alexander Stone, Deptford, London, England,

assignor to Molins Machine Company Limited, London,

England, a company of Great Britain Filed June 12, 1962, Ser. No. 201,897 Claims priority, application Great Britain June 21, 1961 7 Claims. (Cl. 24258.4)

This invention concerns improvements in or relating to mechanism used for joining a running Web of material to the free end of a new web of the same material.

In machinery operating with a continuous web of material (e.g. paper, board, material known under the registered trademark Cellophane, polythene and other similar materials for wrapping, printing or other uses) it is often required to join the leading end portion of a new web to a portion near the exhausted end of the running web. In some cases this is done while the running web continues to run, while in other cases the part of the running web which is to be joined to the new web is I brought to a stop for this operation. This may be done by stopping the whole machine, but is sometimes: done by arranging for a reserve to be built up in the running web at some position ahead of the place Where the new web is to be joined to the runningv web, which reserve can be drawn upon while the parts that are'being joined remain stationary. Such a system has the advantage of allowing a fair amount of time for the joining operation to be carried out, while the -machine can continue to run, and thus be used to advantage in cases where the operation of joining the Webs is to be performed wholly or in part by hand.

The present invention is concerned with apparatus of this last-mentioned character, in which a reserve of the running web is built up, for example in the manner described in United States patent application Serial No. 158,193, filed December 15, 19.60, and assigned to the assignee of the present application.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple and easily operated apparatus whereby two webs can be joined while stationary, in which the new web prior to being joined to the running web is held by a suction device while the running web passes over a stationary guide surface, the suction device being movable towards the guide surface so as to bring the two webs into adhesive contact. This movement of the suction device may be utilised to actuate means whereby the part of the web passing over the guide surface is brought to rest.

It is a further object of the invention to provide apparatus, of the character just described, which can be operated manually to join the two webs, while at the same time the manual operation of the device effects automatic stopping of the means by which the running web is fed through the apparatus, and also automatically restarts the feeding means after the webs have been joined and the suction device is manually returned to its normal position.

Other objects and features of the invention will appear from the description set out below.

Apparatus in accordance with the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic view of the apparatus,

FIGURE 2 is a section on lines IIII of FIGURE 1 drawn to a larger scale,

FIGURE 3 is part of FIGURE 1 also drawn to a larger scale.

Referring first to FIGURE 1, a running web of paper W is drawn from a bobbin B by means of a pair of feed rollers 1, one of which is driven through a clutch (not shown). The web W as it leaves the bobbin B passes 3,138,341 Patented June 23,1964

lice

over an idler roller-2 and then over a guide 3 which is provided with side flanges 4 (see FIGURE 3). The side flanges act as lateral guides to prevent wander of the Between the guide 3 and thedraw rollers l the paper V web passes over a further guide 8 provided with locating flanges 9 and to which a thin shaped plate 10 is attached as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2. The upper edge of the plate 16 is serrated at 11.

Adjacent to the guide 8 is a block 12 to which is hinged by means of a pin 13 a movable'bracket 14. The movable bracket 14 can be swung through 90 by means of a handle 15 to the position in which it is shown by means of chain lines in FIGURE 2. 2A suction chamber 16 within the bracket 14' is covered by a front plate .17, which is provided with a series of holes 18, and is connected by means of a hole 19 to a valve chamber 20. A further hole 21 connects the valve chamber 20 by means of a flexible hose 22 to a source of suction which is not shown. A plunger 23 (FIGURE 2) is held against the top of the valve chamber by a spring 24 and has a stem extension 25 the other. end of which is attached to the handle 15. I

The bracket 14 is fitted with an extension piece 26 which projects over the guide 8. This extension piece 26 is covered by the front plate 17 and is connected by further holes 18 to the suction chamber 16.

Above the bracket 14 is a micro-switch 27WlllQh operates to cut off the drive from the feed rollers 1 as soon as the bracket'14 is moved from its normal position (shown in full line in FIGURE 2) by the handle 15.

In operation the running web W is in the position shown in FIGURE 1 with the web passing over the'idler 2 and over the guides 3 and 8, and being fed by the feed rollers 1. When the machine operator considers that the running bobbin B has been sufficiently reduced in diameter, he speeds up the feed rollers 1 so that a suitable reserve of the web material can be built up in the manner described in U.S. application Serial No. 158,193. The operator then attaches to the free end of a web W from a reserve bobbin B a piece of adhesive paper or tape T and places the leading end of the web against the front plate 17 of the bracket 14 as shown in FIGURE 1, with the piece of tape T in contact with the extension 26.

I Since the bracket 14 is in its normal position, the plunger 23 is at the top of the valve chamber 20 and thus the holes 18 connect up to the suction source. The top of the adhesive tape T and the end of the web W will thus be suctionally held against the front plate 17 of the bracket 14.

When the operator judges the time has come to make a splice, i.e. when the diameter of the bobbin B is sufficiently reduced and when there is a full reserve of web material W in the reservior of the type disclosed in U.S. application Serial No. 158,193 he will slip the fingers of his left hand over the web W immediately to the right of the guide 3 as illustrated in FIGURE 1 and with his right hand will pull the handle 15 towards him. As soon as the bracket 14 moves from its normal position the micro-switch 27 will trip and the feed rollers 1 will cease to be driven. The Web W will become stationary, being firmly held between the nip of the feed rollers 1 and the suction grip of the guide 3. At the same time the adhesive surface of the tape T comes into contact with and adheres to that portion of the web W located in the guide 8. The operator then pushes the handle 15 inwardly to cause the plunger 23 to cover both holes 19 and 21 and thus cut off suction from the holes 18, thereby releasing the web W from the grip of the front plate 17 of the bracket 14. By a downward pull of the Web W with the fingers of his left hand, the operator then severs the web W against the serrated edge 11 of the plate 10. Finally with his right hand the operator swings the handle 15 up to its normal position, shown in full line in FIG- URE 2, whereupon the micro-switch 27 again activates the feed rollers 1 to feed forward the new webW which is now attached by means of the adhesive tape T to the running end of the old web W.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a machine in which a web of material is fed continuously, apparatus for joining a new web to a running web, said apparatus including web feeding means, a guide having a guide surface for the running web, a suction device adjacent said guide surface to hold an end portion of the new web stationary and out of contact with the running web, said suction device being mounted for movement towards said guide surface to bring the two Webs into adhesive contact, and control means for starting and stopping said web feeding means, the said control means being operatively connected to said suction device for actuation to stop the web-feeding means on movement of the suction device towards said guide surface and to start the web-feeding means on movement of the suction device in the opposite direction.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including valve means in said suction device operable to cut off suction from the new web to free the latter for movement with the running web. a

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the said suction device includes a handle which can be manually moved to move the suction device towards and away from the said guide surface, the said handle also forming a part ofsaid valve means and being manually movable to operate the said valve means.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including means mounting said suction device for pivotal movement towards and away from said guide surface.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including a suction brake device positioned to engage the running web as the latter approaches the said guide surface, and wherein the said guide surface is positioned between the said suction brake device and the said web-feeding means, whereby when the web-feeding means are stopped the portion of the web extending between the suction brake device and the web-feeding means is held stationary.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including a cutting element associated with said guide surface and having an edge opposed to the running web to enable the latter to be severed.

7. In a machine in which a web of material is fed continuously, apparatus for joining a new Web to a running web, said apparatus including web-feeding means, a guide having a guide surface for the running web as the latter approaches the said rollers, a suction device to hold a leading end portion of the new web stationary and out of contact with the running web, said suction device being mounted for pivotal movement towards the guide surface to bring the two webs into adhesive contact, and having a handle for manually effecting said pivotal movement, valve means operable to cut off suction from the suction device, the said handle being manually movable to operate the valve device, a switch device mounted to be engaged by said suction device and operable to stop and start the said web-feeding means, the said switch device being operative to stop the web-feeding means on commencement of the movement of the suction device towards the guide surface, and a brake device positioned to engage the running web as the latter approaches the said guide surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,035,682 Wikle Mar. 31, '1936 2,435,376 Wilcoxon Feb. 3, 1948 2,613,042 Dice Oct. 7, 1952 2,724,426 Bell et al Nov. 22, 1955 2,745,464 Auerbacher May 15, 1956 2,772,055 Klingelfuss Nov. 27, 1956 2,940,507 Butler June 14, 1960 2,957,637 Hosken Oct. 25, 1960 3,035,787 Ota et al. May 22, 1962 3,061,220 Gagg et al. Oct. 30, 1962 3,072,354 Giles et al. Jan. 8, 1963 3,075,718 Butler Jan. 29, 1963 

1. IN A MACHINE IN WHICH A WEB OF MATERIAL IS FED CONTINUOUSLY, APPARATUS FOR JOINING A NEW WEB TO A RUNNING WEB, SAID APPARATUS INCLUDING WEB FEEDING MEANS, A GUIDE HAVING A GUIDE SURFACE FOR THE RUNNING WEB, A SUCTION DEVICE ADJACENT SAID GUIDE SURFACE TO HOLD AN END PORTION OF THE NEW WEB STATIONARY AND OUT OF CONTACT WITH THE RUNNING WEB, SAID SUCTION DEVICE BEING MOUNTED FOR MOVEMENT TOWARDS SAID GUIDE SURFACE TO BRING THE TWO WEBS INTO ADHESIVE CONTACT, AND CONTROL MEANS FOR 